How to Declutter Your Home Fast

You just received a phone call from your very picky and opinionated mother-in-law who announces who calls you from her cell phone to announce that she will be in the neighborhood and would like to stop by in an hour. You look around your house that you have not gotten around to cleaning or picking up all week. There are newspapers piled on the tables, toys thrown everywhere, dishes piling up in the sink and the countertops are a mess, the beds aren’t made and laundry is mounding up. What do you do? Do you tell your mother-in-law (who already doesn’t think you are good enough for her son) that today just isn’t a good day, or do you decide to declutter fast? If you are wise, you will choose option number two.

So, you have an hour. Take a deep breath, look around your house and decide what rooms you should tackle in the short amount of time. The first thing you should do is decide what rooms your mother-in-law will most likely be in during her (hopefully brief) stay. It is unlikely that she will enter your bedroom, so do yourself a favor and shut your bedroom door. Throw a comforter over your bed to resemble a bit of a made-up bed. Begin in your living room by gathering all of the excess newspapers and magazines, etc. and throw them into your recycle. If there is a mountain of toys strewn about, gather them into a hamper or throw them into a toy box if you have one in the room. Don’t worry about organizing them at this point in time. If there is a top on the box, your mother-in-law will never know. Go around the room and fluff pillows, straighten rugs, pick up miscellaneous coffee mugs or sippy cups and straighten up any pictures, etc. on your table tops to make them look organized. Take a quick sweep around the room to see the quick (but vast) improvement that you have made and move onto the kitchen.

Tackle your dishes first. Load them quickly into the dishwasher and run the dishes at that time. Wipe down the counters with disinfectant to give it that super-clean smell. Run the trash out to the garbage can. If you have a “junk drawer”, don’t worry about organizing that at this time....your mother-in-law won’t be peaking in there! Throw any miscellaneous coupons, bills and paperwork inside that drawer to go through later. Put away appliances like toasters or blenders to give your kitchen an uncluttered look.

If you are lucky enough to still have time before her arrival, run a disinfectant wipe around your bathroom and give a quick scrub to your toilet. Putting away tooth paste, hair brushes and washcloths can instantly declutter a bathroom counter. Finish by straightening up the towels on the towel rack and you’ve got a clean and clutter-free house in record time! With a little effort and motivation, you can declutter fast!

Ding Dong…..